2009 Brings Big Money in Key Congressional Races

As Democrats try not to let political turbulence slim their ranks and Republicans focus on winning back the majority, money continues to pour into campaign coffers. Big-money congressional races are often in competitive states or districts that could wind up flipping for Republican or Democratic, a Center for Responsive Politics review of campaign finance reports through the end of 2009 shows.

In the Senate, where several seats are expected to be an uphill push for incumbent Democrats, sitting senators have amassed massive war chests.

In Arkansas, Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln has $5.1 million and counting to use in her race against a to-be-determined Republican (and fend off a primary challenge from Democratic Lieutenant Gov. Bill Halter). Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer raised $7.3 million through the end of 2009 for her face off against a Republican in November. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has had a trying year, but ended 2009 with $8.7 million for his reelection bid. And freshman Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) may also have a tough road ahead, but had $3.5 million in the bank at the end of 2009 for his race.

In the House, vulnerable Democrats include freshmen like Rep. Betsy Markey (D-Colo.) and Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.). Markey ended the year with almost $800,000 in the bank, and Grayson ended the year with a little more than $900,000 in cash on hand. Vulnerable Republicans include freshmen Rep. Joseph Cao (R-La.), who ended the year with about $316,000 in his campaign war chest.

Below are several other congressional races to watch that involve the biggest money-in-politics numbers. House: South Carolina 2

Two words were all it took to turn on the spigot for record amounts of campaign cash to flow into this central-south district of South Carolina that includes the state capital, Columbia.

When Republican Rep. Joe Wilson voiced his infamous “You lie!” at President Barack Obama’s speech to Congress regarding health care in September 2009, little did he know that the ensuing national attention would bring massive contributions for his 2010 congressional reelection race, and also draw in hefty contributions in favor of his opponent, Democratic challenger Rob Miller.

The high-profile outburst — and subsequent attention that it drew to a district that has been held by a Republican since 1965 — has helped the candidates retain their third-quarter status as the most expensive race in the country. Currently, Wilson and Miller have raised a total of $5.4 million. They ended 2009 with a combined $4 million in cash on hand combined. This is the second time that the two men have faced off; Miller ran against Wilson in 2008 and lost by eight percentage points.

There is no significant self-financing by either candidate; the majority of the cash — 97 percent for Miller and 92 percent for Wilson — has come from individual contributions.

Although Wilson, who serves on the Armed Services, Foreign Affairs, Education and Labor committees, leads with $3.4 million raised, Miller has raked in a healthy $2 million.

House: Florida 22

Democratic incumbent Ron Klein confronts Republican challenger Allen West in this money-saturated election in the 22nd district, located on the southeastern coast of the Sunshine State. Combined, the candidates have hauled in slightly more than $1 million over the course of the fourth quarter as they vie for the seat.

The two are neck and neck in terms of cash raised, but Klein has more than $1 million left over from last year’s race, which leaves him with $2.4 million in cash on hand, as opposed to West’s $700,000.

The vast majority, 98 percent, of West’s money is from individual contributions, while that number for Klein is only 71 percent; he gets 28 percent of his contributions from political action committees, including financial industry and labor interests.

Klein was originally elected by a very small margin in 2006, and was first challenged by West in 2008. In the 2008 election cycle, Klein greatly out-raised West and won with 55 percent of the vote.

Klein, who serves on the Financial Services and Foreign Affairs committees, is a member of the New Democrat Coalition. This organization of approximately 70 House Democrats has moderate views and an agenda that emphasizes issues of “economic growth, national security, personal responsibility and technological development,” according to their website. Klein is co-chair of the NDC’s energy task force.

West, on the other hand, is one of the National Republican Campaign Committee’s “Young Guns,” one of the candidates they hope will be most likely to help the GOP regain control of the House in November. A retired American Army officer, West spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month.

This heated race has led to more than $2.6 million raised between the two candidates so far.

House: Minnesota 6

Two Democratic challengers are vying to face off against Republican incumbent Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th district. Located in the central-eastern part of the state, this district’s race has generated a large amount of campaign cash. However, most of it is concentrated in the pockets of Bachmann, a rising star among conservatives.

First elected in 2006, Bachmann is the first Republican female representative from Minnesota. She serves on the Financial Services Committee and has recently garnered national attention for her appearance at last month’s Conservative Political Action Conference. She is also active in the ever-growing Tea Party movement.

So far, she has raised $1.5 million for her campaign. Expenditures have left her with just over $1 million in her campaign coffers. The majority of this money, 87 percent, is from individual donations, with 12 percent coming from political action committees, including financial industry interests and conservative ideological groups.

Democrats Tarryl Clark and Maureen Reed, have collected approximately $600,00 and $575,000, respectively, as they compete to run against Bachmann in November. After expenditures, they each have slightly less than $400,000 on hand. Neither of these challengers are self-financed.

The entire race saw more than $1 million raised in the fourth quarter, bringing the candidates’ total fundraising to $2.7 million. The candidates have spent slightly less than $1 million on their campaigns so far, which leaves them with $1.8 million currently on hand.

Senate: Florida

The most expensive Senate race in the country currently is the competition to fill the seat from which Republican Mel Martinez resigned in August 2009. Republican George LeMieux, who was appointed by governor Charlie Crist after the resignation of Martinez, currently occupies the seat.

Now, the race with no incumbent has already brought more than $17 million, $4 million of which was raised in the fourth quarter. Total expenditures so far for the seat totaled $4.8 million at the end of last year.

Crist, a Republican, is leading the pack in terms of fund-raising numbers, with almost $9 million raised, and 95 percent of that total from individual donations. He was elected governor of Florida in 2006, after previously serving as Florida’s attorney general. After spending $1.4 million on his senate bid, he ended 2009 with $7.6 million on hand.

Marco Rubio, another Republican vying for the spot who is the former speaker of the Florida legislature and is favored among some conservatives, has raised $3.4 million, with 98 percent from individual contributions. He has the least cash left, $2 million.

On the Democratic side, Rep. Kendrick Meek raised almost $4.7 million in 2009, 80 percent from individual donations. Meek has spent $1.7 million, slightly more than either Crist or Rubio thus far, but still has $3.4 million in his campaign reserves.

Control of this seat has alternated back and forth between Democrats and Republicans since the 1950s, and the stage is set for intense competition. In addition to Crist, Rubio and Meeks, there is a group of at least ten other Democrats, Republicans and independents whose campaign funds contribute to the overall numbers for the race as well.

Senate: Ohio

In Ohio, Republican George Voinovich’s decision to not seek re-election in 2010 has opened the seat up to an expensive competition.

Republican Rob Portman, who has previously served Ohio as a U.S. Representative and has also occupied numerous federal positions, including director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Bush administration, is on top from the money-in-politics angle. He has only spent $1.7 million of the $6.2 million he raised, and he ended 2009 with more than $6 million in cash on hand.

Portman is being challenged in the primary by the largely self-financed Thomas Ganley. Of the $1.6 million Ganley raised, 96 percent is his own money, with only $60,000 in individual campaign donations. He ended 2009 with about $1.3 million in his campaign war chest.

Democrat Lee Irwin Fisher, the current lieutenant governor raised $3.3 million in 2009, spent more than $1.5 million and ended the year with $1.8 million. Another Democratic player, although one with minimal money, is Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. Last year, she only raised about $678,000 and had just $61,000 in her war chest after expenditures.

A handful of other candidates have filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission, mostly as independents, and reported small reserves that are mostly self-financing.

Together, the candidates in this race have raised a total of $11.8 million, spent a total of $4.1 million and ended 2009 with $9.2 million in cash on hand combined.

Specter was first elected to the Senate in 1980. He represented his Pennsylvanian constituents as a Republican until an announcement in April of 2009 that he was would run for reelection in 2010 as a Democrat.

As the incumbent, Specter has the access to the most cash, and accounts for the majority of the money in this race. Specter has raised $13.9 million, 73 percent of which are from individual donations and 20 percent of which is PAC money. He ended the year with $8.6 million in his war chest after expenditures.

Republican challenger Pat Toomey has not raised the same staggering amounts that Specter has, but polls show that he is giving Specter a run for his money, so to speak. Toomey raised $4.9 million over in 2009, and ended the year with $2.9 million left in his war chest. His money is 93 percent individual donations.

The conservative Club for Growth, the organization formerly headed by Toomey, has also sought to diminish Specter’s war chest by reminding donors of his Specter’s promise to refund contributions made prior to his decision to become a Democrat.

Specter’s Democratic challenger, Joseph Sestak, raised $652,000 during the fourth quarter and ended the year with $5.1 million in cash on hand. Democratic-leaning groups and liberal ideological donors top the list of Sestak’s supporters as he tries to unseat Specter in a Democratic primary from the left

All together, all candidates in this race raised slightly less than $15 million in 2009 and their expenditures totaled $7 million. They finished the year with a combined $16.7 million in cash on hand.

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Viveca Novak
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